


The Big Apple (Of My Eye)

by lichter16



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23369827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lichter16/pseuds/lichter16
Summary: Mark would say that him and Ten are only mutual friends through Johnny. They are forced to hang out every other Friday night at a different cafe until Johnny suggests their friend group go on a spring break trip to NYC. This is where Mark discovers new sides of Ten and feels that they have more in common than he initially thought.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 10
Kudos: 46





	The Big Apple (Of My Eye)

Every other Friday night without fail, Mark would find himself sipping from some sort of watermelon flavored drink. It could be a smoothie, soda, or even a milkshake. Ok, so he kind of regretted the watermelon milkshake, but it sounded like a good idea at the time. It was basically tradition for him and Johnny to try out, not necessarily every type of watermelon drink known to man, but just different restaurants or cafes every other Friday. Johnny would always order some sort of coffee anyway. The two of them were relatively new to the Korean cafe scene as they were only here for a year long foreign exchange program. Their duo became a trio when they started inviting their mutual friend Jaehyun, who despite being a native Korean, lived in America for four years as a kid. That’s how he claimed he got invited to Friday night cafe time. In all honesty, it was mainly due to the coincidence where Jaehyun shared a philosophy lecture with Johnny and was Mark’s lab partner in physics lab. It helped Jaehyun keep up with his English skills as well. They would jokingly call him Jeffery as his English name sometimes too. Any drink that included milk in it was good enough for him to try, but he stuck to milk teas for the most part. Maybe he just really wanted some milk. 

More recently, their trio became a..quartet? Surely there’s a better term for that. But anyway, Johnny’s friend from Thailand, Ten, who was also a part of the exchange program, came to their cafe nights and made it into an English tea time since he always ordered green tea flavored drinks. Not to be confused with actual hot tea or with the gossip kind of tea. Well maybe they would gossip a little bit, but mostly it was easier for them to speak in English so it gave them a good break from the constant Korean. Ten was closer to Johnny’s age than Mark’s, but Mark had actually met him before Ten became close with Johnny. 

Mark was still a bit awkward with Ten, but he had always wanted to get closer to him. During the start of the semester, Mark overheard how Ten was speaking in English over the phone. Usually Mark was pretty shy, but since he was at a new school, he needed to make new friends anyway. Didn’t hurt if the person in question was cute too. Mark waited until the other was finished with his phone call before coming over to introduce himself. Mark wanted to let Ten know that if he ever needed to know something, he could let him know. One could say their first meeting didn’t go over well as Ten laughed at him and said ok before walking off quickly. 

Since then, Mark didn’t try to talk to Ten again out of feeling like the other thought maybe he was lame or something. That is, until he showed up at their Friday night cafe meetups. Mark really tried to not let it get to him since Ten seemed chill with Jaehyun and close with Johnny. But that brush off still kind of bothered him. Ten would then tease him constantly and act like they were friends by being touchy. In Mark’s mind, they really were not close. They got along for the most part and just happened to hang out with the same friends. Today, everything started off the same as always.

“Hey Mark, you want the usual? I’m gonna go up to the counter to order soon,” Johnny asked, collecting their menus and making a neat stack.

“Hmm.. I was thinking of like changing it up this time actually,” Mark replied after a moment of indecision.

“Whatttt Mark Lee, what is going on,” Jaehyun exclaimed, widening his eyes to make an overly shocked expression.

“Aw my baby is finally branching out,” Ten chimed in, reaching to ruffle Mark’s hair.

Mark dodged with a sigh of annoyance, “First of all, I’m not a baby. And I think I’ll have the Banana Milk, but without the milk.”

“You mean like a banana smoothie?” Johnny asked.

“Nah, I don’t know, maybe ask them if they can make just like Banana Milk without the milk,” Mark explained.

“Sounds like you’re taking away the best part, but I’m not one to judge,” Jaehyun stated.

“Either way, fruits are gross,” Ten complained.

“Ok fruit hater, your opinion isn’t relevant here,” Jaehyun retorted. 

After Johnny came back with their drinks in hand, Mark was happy with his milkless banana milk, but did feel a little bad for not ordering his usual watermelon drink. An indecisive person will always regret trying something new instead of sticking with the safe choice he supposed.

“You know, spring break is coming up. What if the four of us go on a trip or something?” Johnny suggested, breaking Mark out of his thoughts. 

Ten set aside his green tea and nodded fervently, “Yeah! We do have over a week off, I think. Any ideas of where would be good? How about London? I have a sister who lives there so maybe she can show us around.”

“Oh wow, overseas, not a bad idea. Actually, I haven’t been back to America since I was like ten years old,” Jaehyun mused. 

“Ok if you’re gonna bring up America then Chicago is where it’s at obviously,” Johnny insisted. 

“How about New York City? I’ve never been and always wanted to go around a big city in America like that. No offense to Chicago, bro,” Ten said.

“Offense taken, but honestly, I’m shocked that you haven’t been. New York could work though. We do have a local right here with us. Right, Mark?” Johnny said, nudging the younger with his arm. 

“Wow guys, I didn’t even say anything yet, and now I’m the tour guide. I see how it is. You do realize I’m Canadian though. You should know America better than I do,” Mark answered.

“Nah man. You have that New York feel, if you get what I mean. Besides, I’ve only ever visited once on a field trip. But really, we could do a few days in New York and a few days in Chicago too since they’re closeish. It could be a lot of fun to show those two around.”

“Yeah it’ll be fun, come on Mark,” Jaehyun agreed. 

“So let’s book it soon right guys? I’m totally down. I’m ready to see Mark’s city,” Ten teased. Mark rolled his eyes. “Ok, Vancouver it is then.”

“He’s cute and has jokes,” Ten said while reaching to try to pinch Mark’s cheeks. Mark backed away as far as his chair allowed without falling over. 

“Alright, it’s settled then,” Jaehyun said with a smile while ignoring Mark’s struggle.

Somehow their group ended up at Incheon airport instead of their usual cafe the next Friday. Mark was a little apprehensive about going on a vacation spontaneously like this since he still felt awkward around Ten somewhat. Johnny’s insistence that Ten really liked hanging out with Mark didn’t do much to actually reassure him. That guy was too optimistic for his own good. 

On the plane, Jaehyun had his airpods in, already tuning out the world. Johnny and Mark put away their matching passport cases and prepared for their red eye flight. They were on a big enough plane that there was a row of four seats in the middle section of the plane so no one would have to sit next to a stranger. Jaehyun had the left side aisle seat then was Mark. Ten was next to Mark, just on his tablet looking through some movie selections, and Johnny sat in the right side aisle seat next to Ten. He was starting his vlog, something he always made whenever he did something new. He called his Youtube page “JCC” for Johnny’s Communication Center. 

“Say hi guys,” Johnny said, showing the guys each waving to the camera. He forced Jaehyun to talk about what he planned to do on the plane and made Ten talk about some of the sights he wanted to see the most in New York and Chicago. 

“Mark, any last words before we take off?”

“Enjoy your flight,” Mark said with a snap.

Mark was halfway asleep after the plane took off when he felt an elbow hit his arm. 

“Hey watch it,” Mark complained groggily. 

“Oh sorry bro, I was getting my stylus out. Just try to rest your pretty little head and we’ll be there before you know it,” Ten states with a smile. 

Mark grumbles and turns his head to the side away from Ten again. He went in and out of sleep for the next few hours. For a 14 hour flight, it’s best to sleep as much as possible. That turned out to be a much harder feat than he thought. Mark turned in his seat again and peeked over at what Ten was doing, wondering how the other was killing time. 

“Oh dude, you watch anime?” Mark spoke a little too excitedly as he caught sight of Ten’s screen.

Ten brought his finger up to his mouth as a signal for Mark to quiet down since it was the middle of the night, “You know Naruto? Yuta reminded me about it so I thought I’d watch some old episodes.”

Mark shook his head, “I think I’ve seen a few episodes, but never really got into it. I used to watch Fullmetal Alchemist with my brother a lot when we were younger though.”

“Do you wanna watch together if you’re not gonna sleep?” Ten offered an earphone to him. They made it through a few episodes before Mark ended up falling asleep again, it was nearing 3AM KST and they still had a few more hours to go. He later woke up to someone saying his name. His eyes slowly came into focus. After he fixed the position of his glasses, he just saw a camera filming him from the side. He lifted his head up. “Ahh Johnny quit it, you’re embarrassing me,” Mark said holding his hand up in front of his face.

“Don’t worry you didn’t get any drool on Ten’s shirt so nothing to be embarrassed about,” Jaehyun teased from the next seat over. “Whattt oh my god. I’m so sorry dude. Didn’t realize I even fell asleep,” Mark stuttered. “Don’t worry, baby. I don’t mind. I thought it was cute,” Ten patted Mark’s head softly a couple times. Mark really doubted he could handle this trip already and of course Johnny’s got all of it on tape for his vlog. “God, what time is it even? Are we almost there yet?” Mark asked more in curiosity than complaint. 

“Yeah should be landing in like thirty minutes. In New York it’s about 8pm.”

“Did you get to sleep at all?”

“Yeah I think I fell asleep a bit after you did earlier,” Ten answered. 

“Nice.”

“Wanna listen to some music til we get there?” Ten asked, holding out an earphone to Mark again. 

“Ok, sounds good.” 

Ten went back to just drawing on his tablet after turning on some music for them to listen to while Mark played on his phone. There were a lot of songs that he would like to add to his own playlist when he got the chance. It made him happy to find out they had more things in common than he thought. Mark always thought Ten was really cool, being an artist, a great dancer, and able to speak like 5 different languages. They chatted a bit more about the music they’ve been into lately before the flight ended. It took another hour after the plane landed for them to even grab their stuff and head to the hotel. 

Once they were able to spot some taxis, Johnny whipped out his camera again, “How’s it feel being home again, Mark?” “I don’t know. Still not Canada.” Mark could feel the good vibes of being back in America already. The land just felt so big and the sky was really wide. Their hotel was about a subway stop away from Times Square so they were already seeing the skyscrapers and lights in the distance. The four of them were sharing a room at a fairly nice hotel. Ten had booked it for them and told them not to worry about it since it was his idea to go on a trip. Of course they all tried to pay him back, but he wasn’t having it. This only furthered Mark’s suspicion that Ten was secretly from a super rich family. Maybe that’d explain a few things actually, like how he said he had studied at Oxford before. Ten was still kind of a mystery to him, one that he wanted to unravel. 

By the time they had all showered and settled in, it was close to 11pm. There were two queen size beds and a couch that pulled out into a bed. Johnny didn’t mind sleeping on the couch, so he already set up in that area. Between the 3 of them, they decided to settle it in what ended up to be the most time consuming way possible, by flipping a water bottle until it landed properly. Whoever won got their own bed. They spent possibly 10 minutes, even though it felt like an hour, flipping the water bottle in a circle until Jaehyun finally managed to get it to land upright. 

“Man, you guys really were terrible at that. It was almost painful to watch,” Johnny judged.

“As if you could do any better. We probably would have had an extra 10 minutes of bottle flipping because of you alone,” Ten quipped. 

Jaehyun thought about his options and chose the bed closest to the window. “Guess this one's mine,” he declared.

“Come on, Mark, you can use me as a pillow again if you want,” Ten said, grabbing Mark’s arm. Mark fought back a blush and laid down as far to the edge of the bed as he could without it being uncomfortable. 

“I don’t usually sleep on a pillow so I’m just gonna put this here,” Mark says, placing it between them. 

“I don’t bite you know,” Ten remarked. 

“Oh yes he does!” Johnny yelled from the couch. 

“Do I even want to know?” Mark questioned. Jaehyun just gave him an exasperated look and moved to turn off the light, “Alarm’s at 8AM guys.”

“Night night, my friends,” Ten said sleepily, turning on his side.

They had plans to check out Central Park and maybe some art museums tomorrow since Ten had always wanted to see certain pieces. Even Jaehyun researched a bit and found out that the Guggenheim was a must do in New York. They had made a rough itinerary for the next few days and thought about different food ideas too. Mark was more of a go with the flow kind of guy, so he was cool doing whatever the other guys wanted. This was his first time back in New York since he was like twelve, so there were a lot of touristy things he had never even done before. The very first thing Mark did as their unofficial local guide was make them try some famous New York bagels. Not that he ever got tired of Korean food, but bagels were his favorite American style food to get, and he missed it since being away for the past few months. Johnny was telling him to try a Lox, but just a classic with cream cheese was fine honestly. They finished up their coffee and decided to take the scenic route with a walk through town. 

Even though it was early, Times Square was still a sight to see. Ten and Johnny were already taking pictures of everything, of course. 

“So Ten, Jaehyun, how is it seeing Times Square for the first time?” Johnny asks while filming. 

“It’s more quiet than I thought it would be, but it is also like 10AM. We should definitely come back tonight to do some shopping and see the lights,” Ten answered.

“Yeah it looks just like in movies, but I agree we should come back later when there’s more going on. Indeed the Big Apple though. I really enjoyed how our hotel is so close to Koreatown too, in case I get homesick,” Jaehyun explains to the camera. 

“Too soon for that though. Mark, where are we headed to now?” Johnny asks, moving to film Mark.

“We are going to M.O.M.A Moma Museum of modern art.”

“Have you ever been there before?”

“Well I think I have, but I really did not know what was going on with any of that stuff back then.”

“How would you say your time in New York was when you lived here?”

“Suddenly an interview for JCC, huh. Well, I lived in Queens up until middle school and I try to forget. Either because middle school or because Canada is superior.”

“How about something positive.”

“Good Bagels here.”

The group spent a good amount of time at MoMA and decided to try to interpret the pieces themselves before just giving up and reading about it. Ten and Johnny were the bigger art lovers of the group, so they actually knew some of the pieces without having to make something up on the spot like Jaehyun would try to do. Then, they had to take the metro to the Guggenheim, where Ten and Jaehyun got to experience the beauty of the New York metro system. Jaehyun now believed how common a pizza rat sighting could very well be. At the Guggenheim, they didn’t have as much time planned here, so they decided it might be best to get the audio tour experience this time around.

“Let’s start from the top floor. I hear that’s the best way,” Ten suggested. So they took the elevator up and started listening on their own to the audio guide. Mark felt like this way, he learned a lot more than he did earlier at MoMA. 

“Mark, tell me about this painting,” Johnny asked, panning the camera from Mark to the painting. “Well, according to this, Picasso lived in poverty, and uh, he tried to portray that dead life into this...and I kind of missed a few lines after that, but yeah.” Maybe he didn’t learn as much as he thought. “My baby talks so well,” Ten interjects, slinging an arm around Mark. Mark didn’t even bother to argue this time, that he’s not a baby, and just let Ten hang off him as they headed towards Central Park. Usually they were not touchy like this, as much as Ten tried to be, so the foreign feeling made Mark’s heart race just a bit. 

Johnny insisted that the gang try to focus on eating American food while in America, even though the Asian food here was sometimes better than back in Asia. So they just sat in the park and ate from a hotdog stand. It was a hard decision as there were several hot dog stands that claimed to have New York’s #1 hotdogs. Everyone really enjoyed the hotdogs they got though. Jaehyun claimed it was similar to when the one time Johnny was craving it and made some in Korea. 

They had already walked around for an hour, and it ended up being really too much for them to explore the whole park today, so they decided to come back another day to check out the MET as well. They hailed another taxi so they wouldn’t have to walk anymore and took a much needed break at Starbucks to wind down before doing some shopping. Walking with his mocha frap still in hand, Mark took another sip as the others looked through some clothing and souvenir shops. He thought maybe having something to remember the trip by could be good, so he got a New York Yankees cap just for keeps. 

“Mark, you’re not getting anything else?” Ten asked. Mark noticed the other had bought quite a few things for himself already, “Nah, maybe I’ll get souvenirs in Chicago since I’ve never been there before.” Ten seemed to accept that answer as reasonable, and they all headed back to the hotel since Jaehyun and Johnny had already finished shopping as well. They dropped their stuff off and had time to relax a bit before dinner. Mark laid down on the bed and scooted closer to watch Ten play Pokemon on his Switch. He didn’t know much about the game, but he was content to learn more about what Ten did for fun as the other showed off his beloved Pokemon party. He has felt a lot more comfortable hanging out with Ten on this trip than he initially thought he would. Of course, Ten still teased him as expected, but he could feel that it was more out of friendliness.

They ended up having some pizza near Broadway. It was a simple hole in the wall place with just the options for the pizzas. Everyone but Ten got a coke to go with their pizza too.

“Wait until you guys try the deep dish pizza in Chicago. It’s totally different than this. We would have to wait like half an hour for the pizza to even finish baking. Can’t do that here because the show starts in like uh 20 minutes,” Johnny states looking at the time on his watch. 

“We will have to compare them once we try both. I read online that usually people fold the New York style pizzas in half though. Have you guys tried eating it like that?” Jaehyun asks as he starts trying to fold his own pepperoni pizza slice in half and biting it. Mark tried it for a bit before just eating it like he normally does. 

“I think cutting it with a fork and knife would be better,” Ten laments. 

“Whatever floats your boat man,” Johnny replied.

They somehow made it to the evening showing of The Phantom of the Opera only 10 minutes late. Luckily, it hadn’t started yet. Mark was already exhausted from the day’s activities, and it was only the first day. Their itinerary was really too ambitious. He’s done more touristy things today than he did while he actually lived here. The show was really exciting, and the most memorable songs were towards the beginning so Mark tried his best to stay awake through the rest of it. Having him sit in the dark after waking up early and walking the entire day didn’t make it easy. 

The group all had a shared interest in music so it was strange they hadn’t gone to see musicals in Korea before. Jaehyun had actually been in choir in high school, but mainly just sung as a hobby nowadays. Meanwhile, Ten had always been a dancer, so singing was something he had more recently been taking seriously with lessons. They’ve never had a jam session together, but maybe they could with Johnny on keyboard, himself on guitar, and Jaehyun/Ten singing. He’d have to remember to bring it up sometime. Get them all to hang out more outside of their usual cafe time. 

“What’d you guys think of the show?” Ten asked, “I really liked the scene where they go underground.”

“My angel of music!” Johnny exclaims passionately, reaching to put his arm around Ten. 

Mark felt that feeling he always got when seeing the two be as close as ever. He shook his head and pushed that thought to the back of his mind though, “Yo, but did you guys get what happened at the end?” 

Jaehyun honestly tried to answer, but he really didn’t understand why the Phantom left the mask behind either. “Maybe it’s on Sparknotes,” Johnny suggested, shrugging his shoulders. The others didn’t seem to even know what he was talking about and assumed it was an American thing. At this point, it was close to 10pm, and the gang made it back to Times Square to see all the lights. They took quite a few photos before Jaehyun mentioned he was getting tired.

“What, we can’t leave yet. We just got here,” Ten whined. 

“That jet lag is killing me, man. Guess it’s been awhile since I’ve been overseas. You guys should go ahead and keep looking around. I don’t mind heading back on my own.”

“Nah man, I’ll go with you, I’m getting kind of tired too, honestly. We have another full day tomorrow,” Johnny agreed. “Why don’t we split up? You and Mark can keep hanging around while me and Jaehyun head back first. What do you say, Mark?”

Ten looked at Mark with a desperate, pleading look and it really got to him, “Uhh I guess that’s fine, yeah.” Ten smiled brightly at him and Mark didn’t know why he agreed to this. They’ve never hung out alone before. Still, he was strangely excited at the idea. 

“Text us once you make it back to the hotel, ok?” Ten insisted. 

“Alright, see you guys later. Don’t stay out too late,” Johnny said, waving his hand goodbye. “Have fun,” Jaehyun adds in before the two walk away, leaving Mark and Ten to themselves for the first time. 

Mark watched them walk away, absentmindedly rubbing his hands together.

“Are you cold? Your cheeks are a little red too,” Ten asked, reaching out to lightly touch his face. Mark laughed nervously, “No, I’m good. What did you want to do now?”

“Let’s take a few more photos up on those stairs over there, then we go to Rockefeller Center,” Ten said, grabbing Mark’s hand and leading him through the crowds of people. A good way not to get separated, but possibly not good for Mark’s heart rate. They walked to the top, and Ten made them pose for some selfies on his phone before taking out his actual camera and asking Mark to take some of just him for Instagram. Mark’s not a photographer like Johnny, but he knew what kind of vibe Ten usually wanted for his photos. Ten seemed perfectly content with the results, which made sense as Mark thought Ten always came out looking unfairly perfect in every photo. 

Once they got to Rockefeller Center, Ten spotted the ice skating rink and cajoled Mark into skating with him.

“Aren’t you Canadian? I figured you’d be good at anything ice related,” Ten questioned as Mark on and off grasped the edge in order to skate forward. He slowly was able to skate towards Ten, and Ten grabbed his arm to steady him. 

“I just need some time to find my ice legs again. What about you? How did you learn to skate so well?”

“Well actually, I learned while on vacation in Switzerland when I was younger. Guess it just stuck.”

“Wow, what is your life,” Mark said in disbelief, but at the same time believing it to be something Ten would do.

“Hey, I had a normal life. I come from a good family, but we traveled a lot. Then I did some exchange programs, so that’s how I end up learning different languages and random things.”

“That’s true. Your language skills are pretty impressive.”

They managed to skate a few rounds without Mark having to worry about face planting into the ice. The muscle memory was coming back to him, just a bit slower than Tens had. 

“How long did you say you lived in New York?” Ten asked. “Hmm I think I moved here when I was seven and then moved to Vancouver when I was like twelve.”

“That’s pretty young, do you remember a lot about it?”  
“I remember taking the metro back from school sometimes, but I didn’t go out a lot back then. I just hung out with the other Koreans I knew or practiced guitar at home.”

“So you’d consider yourself more Canadian?”

“Yeah I was born in Canada and it feels more like home to me,” Mark thought fondly of Vancouver’s snow as they skated circles on the ice.

“Have you been to Korea before you started this exchange program?” Ten questioned further. Mark opened up more and wanted to share his thoughts with Ten. He learned that Ten had known Korean before coming to the school because he studied Kpop. The most shocking thing of all was that he actually won a television competition show, under the name TNT in Thailand, covering Kpop songs. 

“Man, you could have been like a pop star probably. You are crazy talented, and you like have the look for it.”

“Mark Lee, you think I’m pretty?” Ten asked in a mock shocking tone while putting his hands on his cheeks. 

“Uh, I mean, yeah you are. But anyway are you liking your design courses?” Mark asked, quickly changing the subject before he dug himself deeper into a hole.

They quit skating after the hour was up, and Ten suggested going to get dessert. A midnight snack didn’t sound like a bad idea. Skating made him hungry anyway, and he was having a good time hanging out with Ten.

Mark took the initiative to hold onto Ten’s arm this time, so as to not get lost, and Ten led the way to a bakery about a block away. The streets were still loud and bustling, even this late at night. It felt more like white noise in his mind as he tried to focus on Ten’s descriptions of what they have at this bakery. Ten ordered them a small assortment of pastries and got Mark a cookies and cream milkshake while Mark saved a table for them. It was a small table, but they could probably squeeze close to fit since it was so crowded. 

“Have you had a cannoli before? They’re really sweet. Like me,” Ten joked, holding one out to Mark. Mark’s just thankful the other wasn’t trying to hand feed him this time. The outside shell had a nice texture and the inside was indeed a sweet cream filled with chocolate chips. “Mmm, it’s really tasty. Thanks for buying, Ten.”

“Well, really I should be thanking you for hanging out here with me. I know Johnny basically trapped you into it, but I’m really happy to get to talk to you more.” This is probably one of the more sincere things Ten’s said to him. 

“Yeah, you’re like really cool to talk with. It’s weird we both hang out with Johnny and Jaehyun a lot, but have never done anything together. Probably my fault for being so awkward,” Mark admitted. He saw Ten make a strange expression after hearing this.

“What? Mark why would you feel that way? Did I do something to make you think that?” 

“No, I don’t know. I just never thought we would have anything in common, and I like always feel awkward. When we first met, I guess it seemed like you didn’t want to be friends.” 

“I know I can come off strong sometimes, but I can’t help teasing you so much because you’re so cute. You know, I was actually kind of shy when we first met because I thought you were really cute and didn’t know what to say.”

Mark really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The Ten he knew was always straightforward and not afraid to speak his mind. He couldn’t imagine Ten being shy at all. Maybe that would explain why their first meeting went so badly though.

“My friends say that I can be a bit evil to the person I like so I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I’ll try to tone it down,” Ten spoke honestly. Mark’s heart basically stopped for a moment after Ten was finished talking. This whole time did Ten actually like him? He was in disbelief, but wanted to take a chance. 

Mark gathered his thoughts and he wanted to be as clear as possible so Ten could understand how he felt. He mustered up the courage to look Ten in the eyes and convey his true feelings. “You don’t make me uncomfortable, before maybe, but I think I understand you a bit better now and I want to know even more about you. I really like you Ten. I’m sorry if I’m reading this really wrong, but, uh, can I kiss you?”

Ten nods and the relief floods Mark’s body. Their lips met as Mark leaned in and even though it’s just a moment, he felt so content. He gave Ten a small smile and when Ten returns it, it’s the only thing he can focus on in the crowded cafe. 

“You know, I think you’re actually the sweet one, not me,” Ten joked as he held onto Mark’s hand. 

“Oh my god, shut up,” Mark said lightheartedly. 

“When we get back to Korea would you want to go on a date, just the two of us? We can just take things one step at a time.” 

“For a date, it better be just the two of us. But yeah I’d like that, as long as it’s not at another cafe,” Mark answered. Ten laughed along with him and Mark thought that maybe they weren’t so different after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Ten's one IG post and basically I just tried to shove as many inside jokes in as possible from their YouTube videos. A quarantine crackfic bc there weren't enough MarkTen fics and they are the cutest evil twins. Sorry New Yorkers, I've only been there like 3 times, but I truly believe Mark is a New Yorker in his heart.


End file.
